Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies went 5-2 against the Rockies in 2016, only to see the Rockies flip the script in 2017 and win five of seven. Since 1993, Colorado's first year as a franchise, the Phils are 57-39 against the Rockies in Philadelphia.

Colorado has lost four straight games following a three-game sweep at the hands of Arizona. The Rockies are 21-14 on the road this season, their second best road start through 35 games in franchise history (2017: 24-11).

Philadelphia has lost four of its last five series, splitting one with the Dodgers to kick off its last road trip. The Phillies are 4-10 in their last 14 games overall. On the year, the Phils are 20-11 at home and 13-19 on the road.

Trevor Story's slugging percentage on the road in 2018 is .283, compared to his .829 mark at Coors. The difference of .546 between his percentages is the largest in MLB and the only difference above .400 (home better, qualifiers).

Jon Gray's batting average on balls in play stands at .383. The second-highest BABIP among qualifiers in 2018 belongs to Andrew Cashner at .347. The highest for a full season in Rockies franchise history is .343 by Jeff Francis in 2005. The highest mark in a full season since 1930 is .371, turned in by Les Sweetwood for the 1930 Phillies.

Aaron Nola is tied for the National League lead in home wins with five (Michael Wacha) and is one of four pitchers in MLB with at least five wins at home with zero losses. Nola's home ERA (1.94), home WHIP (0.96) and home opponent slugging percentage (.277) all rank top-ten in the NL among qualifiers.

German Marquez, like the Colorado Rockies, has been much better on the road than at home this season.

The right-hander will try to pitch the Rockies to another road series win on Thursday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies. Vince Velasquez will start for the Phillies in the rubber match of a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.

Marquez (4-6, 4.79 ERA) has a 7.71 ERA in seven home starts and opponents have a .989 OPS against him at hitter-friendly Coors Field. In six starts on the road, however, Marquez owns a 2.06 ERA, 1.086 WHIP and an .606 opponent on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

Marquez is coming off an especially bad home outing. He gave up three home runs in the third inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks (one each for Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb and David Peralta) last Friday and was charged with five runs in four innings of work.

"The pitches were up," Colorado manager Bud Black told mlb.com of Marquez. "You look at the inning he gave up three homers ... those are pitches that hitters can elevate. If they square them up, they're going to go out of the park."

Marquez, 23, has faced the Phillies once. He earned a win by allowing just one run in six innings on May 23, 2017, at Citizens Bank Park.

The Rockies improved their road record to 22-15 with an 7-2 win on Wednesday night in Philadelphia. However, Colorado (33-34) is still under .500 because the team is 11-19 at home.

The Phillies have won 21 of their 33 home games but need a win on Thursday to finish 3-3 on their six-game homestand. Gabe Kapler's team is 3-8 in June and has not won a series in three weeks.

Velasquez (4-7, 4.95 ERA) pitched in the Phillies' first game of the homestand, and he had one of the worst starts of his career. The 26-year-old gave up a career-high 10 runs on nine hits in just 3 2/3 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers last Friday. Velasquez's season ERA jumped up by more than a run in the brief outing.

"When he came out, the velocity was down a little bit," Kapler told mlb.com after Velasquez's last start. "The stuff didn't quite look crisp coming out of his hand. We were talking about it on the bench and wondering if he just wasn't going to have his stuff."

Velasquez is 1-0 with a 4.35 ERA in four career starts against the Rockies. He has 23 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings against the team.

Velasquez will have to deal with a red-hot Trevor Story on Thursday. Colorado's shortstop extended his hitting streak to seven games on Wednesday night with a 3-for-5 performance that featured two doubles and two RBIs.

Story has had five straight multi-hit games and is hitting .467 during the seven-game streak. The third-year major leaguer has raised his batting average by 27 points and his OPS by 68 points in the last week.